Sharing the Stars
by DarkTaoAngel
Summary: Horo wants to watch the stars one night, but the only place to watch them is in Ren's room! One cold night and a window to the stars may lead to something that has nothing to do with the stars! Dedicated to Lysha for putting me on her site!


DarkTaoAngel: Just an idea I came up with all of a sudden. I don't own Shaman King, or either of the two cute boys in this fic. Please review!

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It was night; the stars in the sky shone brightly in the semi-darkness, illuminating surrounding trees, but reaching nothing more. The pure white moon hung low in the deep, velvety air, so thick that, had you been outside, you would have felt the wind even when there was none, and the sky although it was impossible to be felt. One shaman in particular was taking advantage of the beautiful scenery. Sitting on the floor and looking out of his small window, Tao Ren felt truly at peace.

Ren had turned off the lights in his room, making the blackness of the night seem even darker. He lay huddled in the corner of the room, curling his knees to his chest and cuddling one of his only blankets for warmth. Being as small and skinny as he was, he became cold easily, and the fact that the En Inn, where he was staying, had no heaters did not help.

The cold of the winter night stung bitterly on the skin that was exposed past Ren's silk pajamas. Ren shook slightly, but was unable to rid his body of the chill that was flowing through him. Even his blanket provided little heat at that point, but the small Chinese shaman refused to close his window. The stars beyond it seemed to take his mind off of life, and with what was going on currently in his life, he needed as much reprieve as was possible.

Ren had just come back from China, having confronted his father for the first time. The horrors of being locked him the Tao Dungeons for a period of ten days still haunted him, as did the wounds and scars still bring him pain when he moved or touched them. Just the thought of what had happened also brought up old memories of his childhood, and that made his regular nightmares even worse. Even when he found a way to keep his mind off of what had happened, there was always someone or something that would ruin his peach and tranquility. When he was watching the stars, Ren found that he could relax and be at ease, without having any disruptions.

Ren was finally able to rest and have a moment alone, when who should appear at his door but the worst possible person at the time: that 'baka Ainu.' Ren knew it was him right away, without even having to turn around and look. Horo opened the door without knocking first, and he began talking to Ren as though he had been simply invited for a visit.

"Oye, Ren, why's it so dark in here?" Horo said, flicking on the lights. Ren's eyes slitted and a vein in his temple throbbed, but he pretended not to notice the unwanted presence in his room.

Horo walked up to Ren slowly, standing directly beside him as though waiting for Ren to invite him to sit down. When no reply came, he tapped Ren on the shoulder once. Twice. Three times. Ren growled and shot his gaze sharply up towards Horo.

"Why are you here?" Ren barked, hoping to scare the blue-haired shaman away. Horo looked completely unfazed, and he spoke in a tone of feigned innocence.

"Well, all the other rooms are full, and I wanted to look at the stars." Ren raised his eyebrow, knowing that Horo was lying.

"Right… and what about your room?" Ren said, wanting to get rid of the other shaman as soon as he could, "Or the roof; you could always go there."

"It's too cold outside and… I didn't want to be alone." Horo stated, hoping to get Ren to let him stay. Truth was, he wasn't really telling him exactly why he didn't want to be in his own room. He wanted to be with Ren.

"Fine." Ren sighed, scooting over to the far corner of the room so that, as Horo plopped down by the window, Ren was as far away from him as possible. Horo looked back at Ren for a moment, wanting to make sure that it was perfectly alright with Ren that he be there, but turned back to the window almost instantly.

Ren was so far away from the window that he could no longer watch the stars. He needed to busy himself to keep his thoughts straight, so he looked at Horo instead. Clad in only pajama shorts and an almost sleeveless shirt, he looked freezing. His entire body was shaking, but he did not say anything about it. He just stared out the window, eyes fixed on the stars.

"Aren't you cold?" Ren asked, noticing Horo's obviously freezing appearance and trying to make his voice as sympathetic as he could. Horo turned to Ren, nodding a bit, but not making eye contact.

"A little." he muttered, looking at the ground rather than Ren. Ren removed the blanket from his shoulders, flinging part of it over Horo so they could share its warmth. The only problem was, the blanket was small, and Ren had to move closer to Horo to stay warm.

Their bodies touching slightly, the two shamans' gaze met. For a moment they just sat there, staring into each other's eyes. But then, after a minute or so of silence, they moved closer and their faces were mere inches from touching. Their lips slowly met, and they stayed that way for a long time. It seemed the world was nonexistent, and it was only the two of them.

They broke away, gasping for breath but both smiling inwardly. Ren moved a bit closer to Horo, and he pulled the smaller teen into his arms. Ren cuddled against his chest, and they huddled together in a warm embrace, melting into each other's arms. And it seemed they had forgotten about the stars; or perhaps it had nothing to do with the stars in the first place.


End file.
